Lobos advance with tough win over No. 9 seed AFA

LAS VEGAS –Here we are at the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas where No. 1 seed New Mexico defeated No. 9 Air Force 75-69.

The Lobos killed AFA on the boards 31-22 including 11 on the offensive side. That, plus a huge disparity at the free throw line (25-30) to AFA’s (8-12), did in the cagey cadets.

This was a battle until the three minute mark when AFA misses and charge calls set up the Lobos for a run at the end in what was a two-point game. AFA never went away.

League player of the year Darington Hobson scored 28 points and hauled down 15 rebounds to lead the Lobos. Some of his rebounds were spectacular offensive put-backs. He was 9 of 13 from the field and 9 of 11 from the line.

The Lobos pretty much needed all starters on the floor to hold off the Falcons, who shot an impressive 46 percent and made six treys in the game. Hobson played 39 minutes and Roman Martinez, Dairese Gary and Phillip McDonald played 33 and were in the game in the final two minutes just to hold on to a lead.

Hobson did draw the attention of some on press row when he got called for a charge on a fast break and immediately shoved and pointed at McDonald for not spreading out on the wing and taking his defender with him. He then threw his mouthpiece down the court and walked to the Lobo huddle in a timeout. He also earned a second-half technical foul for taunting an AFA defender he scored against on a power baseline drive.

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It looks like Heath Schroyer is in trouble at Wyoming after dismal attendance, big losses at home and an early exit here in Las Vegas after losing to AFA in Wednesday’s play-in game.

The word I get is Wyoming cannot afford to buy out the contract they just rolled over for him last year. If they could, they would buy out the contract and let him go. Schroyer’s problems stemmed from recruiting too many foreign players who had a tough time adjusting, according to some of my friends from Laramie. He had too much trust in an assistant coach named Fred Langley, who was in charge of recruiting and went for foreign talent. He has also struggled in knowing how hard to push the buttons of some players which resulted in some walking away from his program rather than endure tough love and vocal criticism.

Wyoming fans are very faithful. If you have a good product, they don’t mind getting in the car and driving 200 miles to Laramie and watch a game. But with the Cowboys finishing the season 10-21 and many games on the Mtn network, folks stopped coming for Schroyer’s product. Some of the poorest attended games in Arena Auditorium’s history have occurred the last two seasons under Schroyer’s watch.

Then came today’s 59-40 loss to Air Force Wednesday and the person at Wyoming who loved Schroyer and brought him in is now left standing up for a dead man walking, a situation that will continue next year, according to folks in Laramie at the tournament.

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I thought Dairese Gary, the outstanding Lobo point guard, looked like he hurt his back in the AFA game. He played with pain, something Alford admitted to the media afterwards, calling him a tough guy. Gary came down hard on his back several times in the game. The first collision came in a fight for a rebound under AFA’s basket in the first half and several times at the end of fast breaks when he collided with the basket standard. Each time, Gary got up and favored his back. Alford does not anticipate any problems for Friday.

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Just got Alford quotes after the game. He was asked about Gary’s health, that he looked shaken up after the game.

Alford: “He took a pretty big hit two minutes into the game. Dairese just does what he does. He didn’t stop, he didn’t quit. He is sore right now, so we got to get him a lot of treatment and rest before we get into competition tomorrow.

“But I know Dairese will be in there. Dairese is that way. He’s played banged up that way most of the year because he throws his body around every game. he easily could have sat down if it was a different guy, but not Dairese. He shoots 15 free throws and makes 14 of them, gets 20 points for us, played most of the game. I thought his minutes were terrific. He’s just got to get a lot of rest and our trainer has to earn some money in the next 20 hours to get him ready.”